Openwork: Inside the Watch Industry

Feb 24 2025 34 ep. 51 mins 15
Openwork: Inside the Watch Industry Podcast artwork

Openwork is a look inside the watch industry. A podcast from Collective Horology. Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.

  Leisure  Business
RSS feed Share
Copy RSS


Subscribe on Podcast Addict


Inside the Shadowy Auction Industry – Marion Maneker (Puck News)

Feb 24 2025 58 mins  
Auction houses – they loom large in the world of watch collecting. Their lots, eye-popping results and personalities are followed feverishly by watch media and enthusiasts. But how much do we really know about these seemingly august, vaunted and shadowy institutions? How exactly do auction houses work? And what are the implications for the watch community? And today, we have the

Rolex Shutters Carl F. Bucherer Brand – A Sign of Industry Consolidation?

Feb 12 2025 56 mins  
On February 7, 2025, Swiss media outlet Bilanz reported that Rolex is shutting down the Carl F. Bucherer watch brand, which it acquired in 2023 as part of its purchase of Bucherer – the global watch retailer. The decision to shutter any watch brand, particularly one dating back to 1888 with significant in-house watchmaking is major news. And it’s a story with broader implicatio

The Business & Ethics of Homage Watches – Marc Frankel (Long Island Watch)

Feb 03 2025 56 mins  
Homages, replicas and clones, oh my! Today we’re digging into the business and ethics of what’s a perennial and now growing segment of the watch market. This is a complex topic, with important distinctions to be drawn between homages and replicas, clones or dupes. And more broadly, it’s one that sheds important light on technology and production gains across the industry glob

Has Luxury Pricing Gone Too Far? – Katharine K. Zarrella (Fashion Writer, Editor & Critic)

Jan 20 2025 71 mins  
On this episode of the Openwork podcast, we look at luxury pricing. Of course, we’ve already done a deep dive on how watches are priced. (Check out our episode with Mike Margolis of Czapek and Singer Reimagined for that.) However, in the past, we’ve largely focused on how inputs like cost of labor, materials, inflation and currency exchange impact pricing. But there’s of cour

2025 Watch Industry Preview – A Comeback Year for Watches?

Jan 06 2025 58 mins  
It's that time of year: Predictions. On this episode we look at the year ahead, and make three calls each about the future of the watch industry. We discuss brand and retailer consolidation, market performance, business models for watch media, as well as enthusiast sentiment. We also take a look back at our 2024 predictions, and grade ourselves on their accuracy. Hosted by Asher Ra

Market Wrap: The Watch Industry in 2024 – Hamza Masood (WatchCharts)

Dec 23 2024 66 mins  
On this episode we look back on the business of watches in 2024. In particular, we discuss where the watch market is as we close out the year. Is it growing, stalling, or as some would claim in retreat? To help us break it all down, we’re joined by returning guest Hamza Masood of WatchCharts – the world's most comprehensive, transparent and trusted source of watch market data.

How Watch Design Works – Marco Borraccino (Singer Reimagined)

Dec 09 2024 48 mins  
Today we’re going behind the scenes of watch design with Marco Borraccino the co-founder, CEO and Creative Director of Singer Reimagined. In addition to starting one of the most design-driven watch brands, Marco was previously the Head of Design at Panerai. He’s got a deep educational and career background in design, both within the watch industry and beyond. And he’s among t

Behind the Zenith DEFY Skyline C.X (Special Episode) – Romain Marietta (Zenith)

Nov 25 2024 29 mins  
Today we have a bonus episode of our podcast. It’s a discussion with Romain Marietta, the Chief Product Officer at Zenith. We sat down recently in Geneva to discuss not only our latest collaboration – the Zenith DEFY Skyline C.X – but also how he and Zenith approach product development more broadly. Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology, O

Inside M.A.D.Editions – Maximilian Büsser (MB&F)

Nov 18 2024 49 mins  
On this episode of Openwork, we explore the business of both MB&F and Max’s most recent horological project: M.A.D.Editions. While both represent wildly creative watches, they have fundamentally different business models, with MB&F producing under 200 pieces a year at prices mostly over $100K USD and M.A.D.Editions producing thousands of watches a year at under $5K USD. H

Inside the GPHG – How the "Oscars of Watchmaking" Really Works

Nov 11 2024 41 mins  
For years, we’ve followed the GPHG – the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève – with great excitement and interest as it’s essentially the Oscars of Watches. And with this year's award ceremony taking place November 13, we figured it would be helpful to lift the veil on what goes on behind the scenes. Who are the people who nominate these watches, and what does voting look li